DALLAS — The essential oils in orange peel and pulp kill E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, according to research presented at the 2010 Beef Industry Safety Summit.
Lead researcher Todd Callaway with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service found that dietary orange peel and pulp reduced Salmonella populations in the intestinal tract of sheep.
Callaway expects the next phase of the study to yield similar results for reducing E. coli O157:H7.
Farmer-funded
This ongoing study is looking at these natural byproducts, created by making juice, as a potential feed ingredient for cattle. The citrus research is one of 13 safety studies funded by cattle farmers and ranchers in 2009.
Safety focus
More than 200 experts from every sector of the beef industry met in Dallas recently to share research and identify farm-to-fork solutions for improving beef safety.
Developing on-farm safety solutions is one area of focus at the eighth annual Safety Summit, hosted by the Beef Industry Food Safety Council.
“Research continues to find new ways beef producers can make the food chain even safer and reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses,” said James O. Reagan, chairman of the council and senior vice president of research, education and innovation for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
“This is important work, and it’s why leaders from all segments of beef production gather at this summit each year to discuss the latest research, share their best practices and set goals for the future.”
Is there enough research on this to show it really works? Too often there is none and it turns out to have no effect, just good PR.
Orange oil is a great antiseptic,but there is not enough citrus pulp to satisfy the entire beef or dairy industry.
Unless totally organic, isn’t most commercial citrus from trees that are sprayed down with all sorts of pesticides, fungicides and who knows what? Doesn’t that mean they are feeding all those “cides” covered peels to the animals they are testing? Don’t you think those “cides” going into the animals gut could be the thing killing any germs or parasites? Now how safe do you think it is to eat the meat from animals fed all those “cides”.
The only way to get a true test is to use fruits that have never been exposed to “cides”.
From my experience, oranges are heavily sprayed with all kinds of cancer-causing chemicals. I would think that over the long term, feeding orange peels everyday would make cows lose weight and become sick. I don’t want to eat anything so saturated with toxic chemicals. Garbage in, garbage out.